St. James

St. James Church

125 North Main Street Boonsboro, MD 21713

Phone - 301.432.2887 Fax 301.797.2490

Office Hours Monday 10am to 1pm Wednesday 9am-1pm

Where to find us

History of St. James Parish

St. James is a small country church in the town of Boonsboro, located on the western side of South Mountain in Washington County. For 140 years it was a mission church faithfully served by the priests of St. Mary’s in Hagerstown and more recently by those of St. Augustine in Williamsport. The mission covered 125 square miles where most of the parishioners lived. In September 2008 St. James officially became a parish of the Archdiocese of Baltimore with the appointment of Father Stephen Hook as its pastor.

St. James founding is unique in that it was sponsored by a lay family in 1868. That family was the Smiths including Dr. Otho Joseph Smith, his brother, Dr. Josiah Smith and Otho’s son, Dr. Otho B. Smith. Otho’s son bought some land on the National Pike which runs through Boonsboro and a small brick church was erected. It featured a bell tower, main and side altars, a choir loft, two potbelly stoves, and seats for about 50 people. The church lacked bathroom facilities and running water, which necessitated cooperation with the neighbors. St. James was completed in September 1868 with Father John Jones as its spiritual leader. A picture of that church hangs on a wall in the Parish Hall. The cost of the construction was about $4,000. It is not clear where all the money came from. One version is that Dr. Otho Joseph Smith upon his death left several thousand dollars to be used by the people of Boonsboro for some worthwhile purpose. His son Otho B. Smith, as executor of his will, decided it was time for Boonsboro to have a Catholic church and used the money to do so. “A History of St. Mary’s Church” states that Father Jones built St. James with money left by the will of Dr. Otho J. Smith and by his family and brother Dr. Josiah F. Smith. Dr. O.J. Smith died on June 14, 1868, about three months before the completion of St. James. However, it is apparent that the money came from the Smith Family.

At its beginning, St. James’ membership was very small and was not to increase for many, many years. In a letter dated November 1872, Father Desiderius C. DeWulf stated that Boonsboro was a loss since he had only 9 communicants and he knew of only 10 Catholics in Boonsboro. Nevertheless, St. James struggled for survival. St. James was closed in 1898 when some of the community’s most active Catholic families moved away and others began attending Mass at Dahlgren Chapel built on South Mountain by the widow of Admiral Dahlgren of Civil War fame.

The people of St. James, however, persisted. Some of them celebrated Mass at the home of Dr. Edgar T. Smith, Otho’s son. The celebrations were infrequent, often only once a month, but frequent enough to keep St. James alive. When permanent closing was imminent, the church experienced a new birth in January 1938.

At that time, Monsignor Francis J. Leary, then chaplain of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Washington, D.C., was assigned to St. Mary’s. He was empowered to reopen St. James and improve its facilities, primarily to serve some 200 young men of the CCC who were encamped on the outskirts of Boonsboro.

Through the generous contributions of parishioners and the untiring efforts of a group headed by Miss Mary Shafer, a convert and great granddaughter of Boonsboro’s first burgess, many improvements were made. A pump organ was installed, stained glass windows were added with the center front one inscribed “360th Company CCC” and murals were painted on the ceiling.

A Hagerstown paper reported at that time that the parish family witnessed and helped perform a “minor miracle” in the transformation of the overgrown church into an edifice of incomparable beauty for its size. Later, Monsignor Daniel McGrath, a former pastor of St. Mary’s, compared the life of the church to its mother church calling it a “miracle of survival.”

St. James continued to struggle through the years of World War II with a handful of parishioners. However, after the war, its membership began to grow as more and more people traveled over South Mountain to live in the Boonsboro area. In the 1950s, the church was painted, the potbelly stoves were replaced by an oil furnace, and electricity was installed. As the future of St. James brightened and hope for becoming a parish increased, the church faced another major setback. The small “miracle” of Boonsboro was forced to close its doors again on Sunday, January 28, 1968. Engineers had found that the scissors-truss construction of the 100-year-old church placed pressure on the outer walls, thus making it unsafe for further use. Because the estimated repair cost was close to $50,000, the decision was made to demolish the structure.

When St. James was torn down in July 1968, some artifacts were saved. These artifacts include the Stations of the Cross, the angel holy water font, 2 statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Sacred Heart of Jesus statue, the baptismal font, and a few gold crucifixes and gold candlesticks. The bell, pump organ, pews, altar, and other statuary were lost. The stained glass windows were crushed. Fortunately, a parishioner saved the cornerstone. Later, the stone was cut into two with onehalf being incorporated as part of the outer wall of the new St. James and the other subsequently becoming a part of the Parish Hall.

The people of St. James could easily have given up with the demolition of their church, but their faith and devotion to the community would not allow that to happen. Arrangements were made to have Mass each Sunday in the Board Room of the Boonsboro Livestock Exchange. In the meantime, Cardinal Lawrence Shehan gave the community permission to proceed with plans to build a new church at a cost of $41,400. This was made possible through generous bequests from relatives of Dr. O.B. Smith. The first Mass in the new St. James was offered by Monsignor Daniel McGrath on June 22, 1969. Subsequently, under the leadership of Father Robert Passarelli, a Parish Hall was added to St. James at a cost of $105,000. This debt was paid off in seven years on February 4, 1983 through the generosity of parishioners. Today, St. James is debt free.

In July 2001, after more than 130 years, St. James’ association with St. Mary’s came to an end. After the retirement of Father Alfred Smith, pastor of St. Augustine in Williamsport and its mission, St. Michael’s in Clear Spring, and because of the continued growth in parishioners and activities at St. James, the decision was made to realign the parishes and missions of Washington County in order to more equitably balance the workload of the priests assigned to the region. Therefore, St. James was aligned with St. Augustine, while St. Michael’s was aligned with St. Mary’s. Father John Carter was then assigned as the pastor of both St. Augustine and St. James and served until his sudden retirement in February 2006. At that time, Father John Lesnick was assigned as Temporary Administrator. On July 1, 2006, Father Stephen Hook became the Administrator of St. Augustine and St. James. Deacon Joseph Gousie was also assigned to both parishes as Deacon and Pastoral Associate. Deacon Joe left the parishes in January 2008.

Under the leadership of Father Stephen Hook we are looking to the future. We own 16 acres of land on Route 67 which may be the site of a new St. James when we outgrow our present facilities. In the meantime, we recently purchased a home to the right of the church which now houses our church offices.

Our efforts are continuing to develop staff and organization to assist Father Steve in administering the parish. We are also in the process of preparing a 3 to 5 year plan which will identify our needs and financial resources. With the increasing number of parishioners we are looking to a bright future.